Grace Notes

Join us for our Reformation Celebration!

We would be delighted for you to join us in our commemoration of Reformation Day. We will gather at the church (5000 Sterwart Mill Road, Douglasville, GA 30135) on October 31st, from 5-8pm, to enjoy food, games, a costume contest, singing, and a message on the greatness of God’s grace.

The costume contest will be held from 5-6pm, so kids are encouraged to come dressed as their favorite Bible character or Reformation character!

So why the celebration?

October 31st is one of our country’s favorite days filled with candy, costumes, and celebrations. For the last hundred years Halloween has been an American holiday. But October 31st holds greater significance than a harvest festival with pagan roots. It’s the anniversary of a day that changed the world.

On October 31, 1517, monk and scholar, Martin Luther, nailed a document with 95 assertions to the church door in his town. Luther was troubled by a fundraising venture to support the church in Rome. To pay artisans like Michelangelo, Pope Leo X sanctioned the sale of indulgences.

An indulgence is a certificate stamped by the pope granting remission of sins. If you dropped your coin in the papal coffer, you could purchase forgiveness. Repentance was not even necessary. All one needed to do was make a contribution. Then your sins would be cleansed.

Martin Luther was incensed by this corruption of the truth. For money cannot buy forgiveness. Further, Jesus commanded men to repent and believe in the gospel. Salvation comes only to the one who turns from sin and trusts in Christ.

Hence, Luther posted his 95 Theses to promote a discussion about this perversion of biblical teaching. It was not Luther’s aim to start a quarrel. But peoples’ souls were at stake. If a person rests on a slip of purchased paper and not on Jesus Christ, then he will perish in his sin.

Luther could not have imagined what would follow his posting of these points on the church door. But the 95 Theses knocked the legs out from under years of false teaching about how a sinner is saved. The works of our hands do not earn favor with God. Grace alone saves! Luther proclaimed that “the true treasury of the Church is the holy gospel of the glory and grace of God.”

As that message went out, slowly the gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone came back into focus. Thus, October 31, 1517 was the dawn of the Protestant Reformation. Now, 500 years later, we celebrate Reformation Day.